“I SCREAM! YOU SCREAM! WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!”

BY: JAMES F. O’NEIL

“The Emperor of Ice-Cream” by Wallace Stevens: “The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.”

“Why the emperor of ice cream? It’s an odd combination: an absolute, imperial power and a benign, sweet treat. Ice cream is a sensuous delight, eagerly anticipated and gleefully consumed. If you wait too long to eat it, it’ll melt. So much for the ice cream–now what about the emperor?

“Ice cream is like life: sweet, or at least hungrily indulged in, while it lasts. It’s also like the dead: cold and destined to be consumed or to dissipate away. Perhaps, then, the line that closes each stanza is a wake-up call to readers. If the “only emperor” or dominant principle of the world is the one we’re reminded of when we see ice cream melting–(or, in a different way, when we attend a funeral [shown in the poem])–we’d be well advised to heed it and make each moment count.” –Austin Allen, Poetry [magazine] Foundation

…

Once upon a time: Rainbow cones on the South Side: 93rd and Western in Chicago.

There see the giant cone, with five or six colors in slices–not scoops–of ice cream piled on top of one another.

We screamed with excitement for ice cream as our family made its special way farther south of our Marshfield home. It was a drive from Marquette Boulevard. No quick 45-mph trip like today. Probably in the green ’52 Chevy, 25-30 mph, with plenty of stoplights interrupting the special occasion.

Now when it comes to memories in time about flavors, I don’t recall any special Rainbow offerings, but the colors were vibrant. This is embedded in me. And in days before Rainbow–and after–ice cream has been a special weakness of mine. Not as an addiction, like anything-chocolate, but as that special “Good Nutrition My Plate” (nestled within the perfect food container that not only holds but is eaten) with its various food groups which include NUTS (coco-nut and chocolate peanut butter, pistachio and black walnut); FRUITS (like White House Cherry and rum raisin); DAIRY (lemon gelato and butter pecan); PROTEIN (egg nog and phish food, and chunky monkey and chocolate Moose-tracks); VEGETABLES (carrot-cake and chocolate malted and mint chocolate chip); GRAINS (chocolate cookie dough, and Grape-nuts).

However, Rainbow was but one special source of providing me with melting gustatory delights. No doubt about it, Good Humor was like no other.

The bells of the truck signaled the Coming of the Man in White. He enticed us kids to come outside our homes or from our apartments, or made us stop dead in our playing-tracks. If we had the twenty or twenty-five cents, our saved nickels and dimes, we made our purchases.

And? “Coconut for me, please.” The delicious-tasting ice cream bar on a stick, covered completely with a thin coat of white-something loaded with coconuts pieces. Heaven as I ate it. Heavenly. If my favorite was not available, I had to settle for something like chocolate cake or perhaps succumb to savoring an orange creamsickle:

Good Humor exists today, in supermarkets, in 7-11, in other places, and even with a few trucks in certain neighborhood locations. “But it’s not the same.” Yet I would never turn down a chocolate eclair, a toasted almond, or even a strawberry shortcake bar.

…

Howard Johnson’s at some time was a place I remember first seeing coconut milk on the menu. I thought that it would provide me with a special ice cream treat: a coconut milk milkshake. O YES! YES! YES! And then, later, I asked, “A coconut malted milkshake, please.” The nectar of the gods for sure!

…

Gus Pappas died in 1987. He was 83–and that was a long-ago moment. In 1953, “Mr. Pappas” (“Gus”) bought a corner confectionery in the Byrne Building, at Garfield (55th) and Halsted: Pappas Sweet Shop. We just knew it as the ice cream shop. It was a hangout for me and my friend Bill Manion, or with Joe Balint. My sister and her friends found time to have their ice cream and their teen-age talk-sessions there.

BYRNE BUILDING WITH PAPPAS CORNER

No matter how warm outside, I remember the store was always cool inside, with its white tile floors and marble counter-tops. Cool was needed to keep the dipped, rolled, and wrapped delicacies fresh and tasty (Oh, those chocolate-covered cherries!): Who needed Fannie May candies when we had Pappas on the corner?

Gus had a son, James (“Jimmy” to us), who worked in the store. In my time, Jimmy began singing with the Chicago Metropolitan Opera. Though his first role was in the chorus (My mother and I saw him in La Boheme.), he was a star to me. He brought music and fun-with-music into my life, and an appreciation of opera that I do cherish. And there is nothing today that compares to my savoring a Green River Malted Milkshake, with homemade ice cream, that Jimmy Pappas made for me. Yum!

GRATEFUL NOMINATION

MY OWN ZODIACS

Mmmmm, ice cream…now I have a craving for some vanilla ice cream with butterscotch syrup, peanut sprinkled on top then whipped cream. Great…thanks, I have the craving and no ice cream in the freezer or butterscotch or peanuts in the pantry nor whipped cream in the fridge. =( Thanks for sharing your memories so eloquently. =) I am now out the door to get to the grocery store for some ice cream and fixings. :p

Ah, James … now you have made me want ice cream! We still have an ice cream truck that comes by most summer afternoons and it always brings back memories, seeing the neighborhood children rushing out to greet him. Today, they have dollar bills in their pudgy little hands, whereas in my day we had a dime, but still …. 😀

Jocelyn said: July 9, 20161:20 PM

Thank you for sharing your memories so beautifully.
Your mention of Fannie May made me laugh-my grandmother worked there.

Such nostalgia. Love it. Our local ice cream “it”place is still open and thriving after over 50 years. I don’t care for their ice cream, but I love the fact that even though it’s changed ownership over the decades, it continues to keep its traditions (e.g., free ice cream to kids with good report cards).

Oh yummy! I love ice cream, but can’t ever recall having rainbow cones over here. Ripples and neopolitan yes, flavoured, yes, but not rainbow. The latest craze now is bubble gum flavour, but I bet that isn’t how I remember it. Rum n raisin, mango, black cherry.
As a kid, Luigi used to come along in his Mr Whippy can, and if it was your birthday, you had a frfee ice cream. So many kids were a hundred years old on a month.
Such happy memories. I’m practically licking my screen here!